Shop-window casing.



N '769,647- o J' W' CROFTS. PATENTBD SEPT 6, 1904 SHOP WINDOW CASING.

APPLICATION FILBI) JUNE 5.1903.

N0 MODEL.

PATENTED SEPT. 6, 1904, J. W. CROPTS.

SHOP WINDOW UASING.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5.1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented September 6, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE.

JOHN VILLIAM CROFTS, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

SHOP-WINDOW CASING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,647, dated September 6, 1904.

Application filed June 5, 1903. Serial No. 160,219. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JOHN VILLIAM ORorTs, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 4Q Braunstone Gate, Leicester, in the county of Leicester, England, have invented certain new 'and useful Improvements in or Relating to Shop-Tindcw Oasings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to shop-window casings, and is designed with the object of so constructing the casing that the back of the window may be dressed inside the sliep, thus avoiding the necessity for getting in and out of the window-casing for that purpose. Access to the window may be more easily obtained, the glass front itself cleaned, and any article removed from the window without disturbing the other contents of the casing, and the back part of the casing, with the goods supported thereby, may be moved to 'face the inside of the shop for the purpose of facilitating the selection by a customer of any of the goods carried thereby.

The invention consists in constructing the casing in such a manner as to be movable toward the interior of the shop, so that the whole or a part of the displayed contents of the window may be turned in to face the interior of the shop for the purposes above enumerated. A convenient method of construction consists in mounting the said casing upon or suspending it from an upright rod or shaft, upon which it may be turned as desired toward the interior of the shop, or of mounting the said casingl upon pivots or of hinging it from upright supports, either' as a whole or in parts or divisions, such as wings of any convenient and desirable dimensions, depending upon the size, shape, depth, and other conditions under which the shop front to which the invention is applied is built, and

the said divisions or wings may extend from Hoor to ceiling or to any convenient height and depth, such as the nature of the business may decide.

An important feature of this invention is that the shelves, hooks, brackets, supports, or the like upon which the goods are arranged in stands, boxes, cases, or the like for display are attached to and form part of the said movable casing, so that upon the easing being' turned inward upon its supporting-axis the whole of the goods displayed in the window or any division thereof may be turned in toward the shop interior and rearranged or any particular article may be selected therefrom with facility and for the inspection of intending' customers without the difliculty which is at present experienced and the probability of disturbing the contents of the dressed window.

The invention will be more readily nuclei'- stood by referring to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a perspective view in elevation of a shop-window casing constructed in accordance with this invention as seen from the front of the shop. Fig. 9. is a plan thereof. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. l of the back of the casing as seen from the shop interior. Figs. e and 5 are respectively elevation and plan of a detail of construction of one method of revolubly supporting' the said casing'. Fig. 6 shows in plan a simple and etiicient means of rendering the casing dustproof when closed. Fig. T is a plan of an alternative construction.

Similar figures of reference indicate like parts on all the figures of the drawings.

ln Fig'. 1 the example shows a shop-window casing comprising two movable wings or divisions 1 2, which form the back of the casing, and the two sides 3 also movable. The wings l and 2 are movable about a fixed vertical metal rod or shaft 5, the ends of which are fitted into sockets 6, carried by the floor and ceiling' 4ioists or in any other convenient and secure manner. The said wings 1 2 are provided with metal straps T, Figs. et and 5, screwed thereto by screws S, and one end of each of the said straps 7 terminates in a collar 9, through which the said vertical rod passes, and each of which straps T and collars 9, movable on the shaft, forms a hinge upon which the wings 1 and 2 are movable. The movable collars 9 rest upon fixed collars or shoulders i0, formed or shrunk upon the rod 5 or fastened thereto by screws or the like and which serve as seatings for the collars 9 l shown in dotted lines. rl`he floor-board 14 of and sustain the wings 1 and 2 in position. l

Each Wing is movable about the rod 5 indel pendently of the other and is fitted on the side facing the window, with a number of shelves 11, supported upon brackets 12 and upon which the articles to be displayed may be arranged to the best advantage. The back and sides 1 2 3 4 of the casing may be paneled with mirrors 13 from Hoor-board 14 to ceiling or only a part may be mirrors, the remainder being of clear-glass paneling to admit light to the shop interior, as shown at 15, Figs. 1 and 3. The sides 3 4 are shown pivoted at 16, about which points they are movable, so that the edges of the shelves 11 on the wings 1 2 may clear them when the said wings are opened toward the inside of the shop. The sides 3 4 also of the casing may be provided, as shown in plan on Fig. 2, with shelves 17.

A convenient means of rendering the window-casing dust-.proof is shown in Fig. 6, wherein the edges 18 of the sides 3 4 adjacent to the edges 19 of the wings 1 2 are mortised and provided with a rubber seating 21, which when the window-casing is closed and fastened in position excludes dust entirely and air to a very great extent.

Any suitable fastening means may be employed for securing the wings 1 and 2 of the casing in position, and it will be obvious that the window floor-board 14 may be also divided into two parts and one attached to each wing of the casing and movable therewith, so that the whole of the window may be dressed from the inside of the shop.

Other means may be employed to enable the wings to be turned inward in place of suspending them from a central fixed rod, as

above described. Forinstance, the wings may be fastened to the said rod and the rod itself made revoluble, or pivots at both top and bottom may be employed turning in sockets in the fioor and ceiling joists, or like means may be used which procure a like result.

An alternative arrangement (illustrated in plan in Fig. 7) consists in constructing the back of the window-casing so that it may be completely turned round or reversed, with the side ordinarily facing the window to face the interior of the shop. and vice versa. By this means the window may as regards the back always be dressed,since goods may be arranged on that side of the back facingthe interior of the shop when a change is desired and the back then turned round to face the window while the goods previously displayed are changed or rearranged. The construction, as

will be seen byfreferring to Fig. 7, consists in mounting the back of the window-casing 1 2 upon a central shaft 5 or pivots, upon which it may be swung completely round, as

the window may be attached to and swing with the back 1 2, and the sides 3 4 may be movable upon pivots or hinged, as before described. The floor-board is preferably cut semicircular in shape and of the same radius as the arc described by the back of the casing in its movement about. the central shaft 5 or pivots in such a manner as not to interfere with or disarrange any goods displayed in the window outside the said radius of the revolving back.

The shelves 11 may be paneled with or consist of mirrors 13, as may both sides of the back of the casing and the movable sides of the window.

The back of the shop-window casing may be divided into any number of movable wings in the manner described, as required by the width of the shop-windows, and by the use of such an improvement the Window-dressing may be carried out with far more convenience and eflicacy and more effectively than by present methods. Moreover, goods from out the window may be more readily reached for intending purchasers and a more ready access to the window-panes permitted for cleaning and other purposes.

Various modications may be made in the details of construction, combination, and arrangement of the parts as necessitated by the adaptation of the invention to various forms and constructions of shop-windows without in any way departing from the scope of the invention.

What I claim then is- 1. The combination with a shop-window casing, of sections or wings mounted to rotate in a horizontal plane, said wings constituting the rear side or back of the casing, and supports carried by the wings.

2. The combination with a show-window casing, of sections or wings mounted to rotate independently of each other in a horizontal plane, said wings constituting the rear side or back of the casing and supports carried by the wings.

3. The combination with a shop-window casing having sides hinged at one end as described, of wings mounted to rotate in a hori- Zontal plane, said Wings constituting the rear side or back of the casing, and supports carried by the said wings.

4. The combination with a shop-window casing having sides hinged at one end as described, of wings mounted to rotate in a horizontal plane, said wings constituting the rear side or back of the casing, and supports carried by the said wings, and means for forming an air and dust tight joint between the outer edges of the rotatable wings and the rear edges of the hinged sides in the manner set forth.

5. The combination with a shop-window IOO IIO

casing', of a shaft vertically arranged therein,

shaft passes, and supports carried by the wings having' a rotatable connection with said Wings. 10 Shaft and independently oi" each other and sup- In testimony whereof I ailix niy signature in ports carried by the wings. presence of two Witnesses. 5 6. The combination with a shop-Window JOHN VILLIAM CROFTS.

easing, of a shaft verticallyarranged therein, fitnessesz Wings l, Q, straps secured to the wings and E. N. LEWIS, having' a collar at one end through which tlie GEORGE LESTER. 

